The New York Landmarks Conservancy is celebrating back-to-school during the month of October with a focus on historic public school buildings, including Curtis High School, a city landmark.
(Photo Courtesy of New York Landmarks Conservancy)

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - NEW BRIGHTON - The New York Landmarks Conservancy is celebrating autumn and back-to-school with a focus this month on historic public school buildings, including Staten Island's Curtis High School, a city landmark.

The Conservancy is urging Staten Islanders to become a "Tourist in Your Own Town" and take a walk past this North Shore treasure to observe the detail of its architecture.

The building at Hamilton Avenue and St. Mark's Place was built between 1902 and 1904, as the borough's first public high school. Commissioned by Charles B.J. Snyder, it's named in honor of prominent writer and abolitionist George W. Curtis, who settled on Staten Island in the mid-19th century, just before the Civil War. The school's original building of brick and limestone, with its center square tower, is an example of Neo-Gothic architecture. It was designated a New York City Landmark in 1982.

Snyder, who served as the city's superintendent of school buildings from 1891 to 1922, believed that schools should be "civic monuments for a better society" and oversaw the construction of more than 350 city schools during his tenure. The schools were designed to offer "light, air, beauty and dignity" during a period when waves of immigrant children poured into the school system.

For more information about the architecture of Curtis and other schools designed during the Snyder era, visit www.nylandmarks.org and check out the videos "Tourist in Your Own Town" and "Mystery Landmark" – both of which focus on public schools. The Conservancy also plans to create a Facebook album with historic school photos from its archives.